Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday announce a deal reached with the Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU).
Premium Times reports that Gbajabiamila disclosed this on Monday after a closed-door meeting between the leadership of the union and the lawmakers at the National Assembly complex.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, Gbajabiamila said Buhari has agreed to some demands of the lecturers after two meetings he (president) had with the House leadership.
“That meeting was even better than the first one we had with him, and Mr President had agreed to settle things. I am not going to talk about that now, and that he would disclose whatever it is tomorrow, Tuesday which is tomorrow.“
The President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, in his speech, said the leadership of the union is expected to get a deal from the federal government and present it to its members.
He said the deal should be ready in 48 hours.
He stated that the ASUU leadership cannot make any announcement on any deal without the consent of the members.
“We met briefly in the speaker’s office. We have taken note of what they have covered. As you know, in my union, we operate bottom-up, we don’t take decisions on their behalf without taking their consent.
“We have agreed that between now and tomorrow, we are going to get some documentation—signed— that we can take to our members. We will do that as soon as possible for the interest of Nigerians,” he said.
Mr Osodeke however condemned the federal government for allowing the industrial action to linger for over eight months.
Lecturers of public universities in Nigeria embarked on strike on 14 February, over the federal government’s refusal to implement the 2009 agreement on matters bordering on increased funding of universities and increasing lecturers’ salaries.
